In the latest edition of Late Night‘s Second Chance Theatre,
a segment where Seth Meyers gives his Saturday Night Live alums the chance to revisit cut sketches, Will Forte and Jason Sudeikis bring back a lost 2009 bit from their Jon Bovi days
It’s “the tale of two musical lyricists with an unquenchable desire to compose the next great Christmas classic,” Meyers intro-ed.
Forte and Sudeikis played two members of a Jon Bon Jovi “opposite band” called Jon Bovi. They performed songs like, “Dyin’ On a Prayer” instead of “Livin’ On a Prayer,” “You Give Hate a Good Name” instead of “You Give Love a Bad Name,” and “Stabbed in the Butt” instead of “Shot Through the Heart.”
As Meyers’ Late Night guests explained, Jon Bovi started as a sketch for an episode hosted by My Name Is Earl‘s Jaime Pressly. In this scenario, the actress would’ve played a record executive, while the Jon Bovi band came in acting obnoxious. Eventually, it turned into a bit for “Weekend Update.”
“The premise was we hated Bon Jovi, the band, so much that we set out to create a band that would cancel them out of the universe,” Sudeikis said.
They’re not officially sure why this particular sketch didn’t air. Sudeikis got some laughs when he mentioned “politics,” and the same with Forte when he said, “Maybe they were like these guys are doing too well, we need to tamp down their careers.”
Meyers suspected it had something to do with the presence of another “musical duo” on the show that night, Garth and Kat, played by Fred Armisen (who overheard all of this from the drummer’s seat on Late Night) and Kristen Wiig.
Forte and Sudeikis, sitting with Meyers and Armisen, continued answering burning questions about the band that never took off in a Q&A dressed in character. It began with Sudeikis explaining how they would auction off an original Jon Bovi song for charity composed for the highest bidder within minutes, so Meyers wanted to give it a try with his audience.
The results were the opposite of Britney Spears’ “Toxic,” which sounded something like, “Your hate is safe for children.”
